Disappointment, tinged with realism, was the keynote in Belgrade yesterday to the news that Saturday's game, expected to be watched by a capacity 80,000 crowd, was off.

Branko Bulatovic, president of the Yugoslav Football Federation, said that he was saddened by events. "We talked to UEFA a few minutes ago and told them that in our opinion there was no reason for a postponement given that two European Cup matches were played in Belgrade last week without any problems whatsoever," he said yesterday.

"But it is force majeure - we don't see any ill will by UEFA. They waited as long as they could before making their decision. It had nothing to do with soccer."

Unlike Mick McCarthy, who said that he will be pressing for the implementation of FIFA's five-day rule for all international games, Bulatovic expressed some misgivings if they will be able to secure players based outside their country.

Milan Zuivadinovic, the Yugoslav coach who will now supervise a game between his `A' team and a national youths selection tomorrow before breaking camp, said: "We were really looking forward to the game and I believe the team I had picked would have been able to beat them."

Shay Given, who was in the Newcastle team beaten by Partizan in Belgrade last week, said: "Spectators at the game were very hostile, but other than that everything in the city was normal. There was no heavy security presence and everywhere we went we were treated well."